• Okinawan sweet potato pie

    Okinawan sweet potato pie

    One of the things I was most excited about when we found out we were moving to Okinawa was the purple sweet potatoes, or beni imo. Then, mainly because I am foolish and was only shopping at the commissary and the local grocery store closest to our house, instead of going to farmer’s markets, I […]

  • The best pecan pie

    best pecan pie

    To really understand how important pecan pie is in my life, I need to tell you a story about the first time I went to Afghanistan, in 2008. As soon as I got off the plane at Kandahar Air Field, my friend Kelly (who was the public affairs officer for the unit I was embedding […]

  • Valentine’s Day baking

    I have a ton of things to share with you in the next few weeks, but since it’s Valentine’s Day weekend, I thought it might be helpful to put together a few ideas for baking projects. Sweets for your sweetheart, if you will. Two-ingredient Nutella brownies: Do you have eggs, a jar of Nutella, and some kind […]

  • Gluten-free Derby trifle

    chocolate bourbon pecan trifle

    Are you Team Pie or Team Cake? I’ve always been more of a Team Pie girl myself, so, of course, I thought about making something akin to a Derby pie for the Kentucky Derby. But there are a few problems. First: Derby pie is copyrighted, and the recipe is closely guarded. Second: One of our friends — […]

  • Pumpkin-gingerbread trifle

    pumpkin trifle

    Despite the unseasonably warm temperatures in southern California, it’s October and therefore pumpkin season. I do like a pumpkin spice latte on occasion, but I prefer pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread and other things that actually contain pumpkin. So when Toby suggested I make a trifle, my mind immediately went to pumpkin. I thought about doing […]

  • Tiny pecan pies

    teeny tiny pecan pies

    Miniature food isn’t always tastier than regular-sized food, but it’s almost always cuter. Evidence? Tiny hamsters eating tiny burritos. But this post isn’t about adorableness. This is about pecan pie. In my experience, pecan pie is frequently relegated to Thanksgiving or Christmas, and not enjoyed year-round. That is a travesty, really, because the combination of pecans, […]

  • Maple bacon marshmallows

    maple bacon marshmallows

    Even though we were up to our ears in waffles and peaches on Saturday, you know I couldn’t possibly have people over without making dessert. So what kind of dessert does one make for a breakfast-themed party? How about marshmallows with candied bacon in them? I can’t take credit for the brilliant idea of putting bacon inside […]

  • Chocolate coconut cake

    Since Melissa was visiting California for her birthday, I HAD to figure out the perfect birthday cake to make for her. Right? I considered the to-die-for coconut rainbow sprinkles cake that I made for my own birthday last year, but thought I should try something a little different. And since I know Melissa loves chocolate […]

  • Cranberry upside-down cake

    When I was planning my Christmas Eve and Christmas dinner menus, I knew I had to have delicious desserts for both… but I didn’t want anything that would require a lot of work. I decided to make a peppermint ice cream cake for Christmas (which was delicious but also a huge mess, so I need […]

  • Sticky toffee pudding

    “Sticky toffee pudding” is a bit of a confusing name for Americans (like me). It’s a cake, not the stuff Bill Cosby loves to eat in commercials. And the “toffee” is a sauce, not that chewy stuff in the middle of Heath bars. Oh, and there are dates involved. In part because I had no […]